A Dark Soul's Power
by Lamenting-Shadows
Summary: A young strawberry accidentally crashes into a kenjitsu dojo. The owner, twenty-three year old Rukia Kuchiki who also has slight psychic powers, decides to take him in. However, she knows that a dark presence is haunting his soul. Is he harboring a dark spirit? Or could he simply be overflowing with power from past dark experiences? Unless...
1. A Rude Awakening

**Just to put it out there, I don't own crap. The only thing I own is my imagination, and that's exactly nothing but crap. So, enjoy this pile of crap. ^_^**

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I think the first time I saw him he was only six, though I can't really remember. I have known him for so long now, I just can't remember!

"Well, maybe this'll help." I heard a familiar voice and felt a thin needle penetrate the skin on my left arm.

All the memories of the first time I'd seen the little strawberry came flooding back.

"WAAAAAAAH!" I heard splintering wood and tearing rice paper. I immediately ran out of the training room to see what had happened. I saw nothing unusual, though I did see a neon orange puff coming up from the wreck.

"Oof!" The head of a six year old boy sprouted from under the puff, and angry eyes latched onto my own.

_From the start I knew he was different._

A few weeks later, after getting the door to my family's dojo restored, the same orange hair could be seen in the window of my office. I was teaching a class, so his registration would have to wait. I saw it bob up and down, and I realized the kid was trying to watch me teach my sword class. I deducted that he was trying to pick up a few tricks and techniques so he wasn't so clueless when he started.

As soon as I had finished my class, I set my bamboo sword in the corner of the training room and walked over to the hidden door to my office. I slowly closed it behind me and grabbed a navy blue jacket beside the door to battle the cool temperature.

"So, are you interested in joining little guy?" I addressed him with a cheery smile.

"Yeah, why else would I be here?" He harbored the same scowl as the first time I saw him and he crossed his arms in arrogance.

I looked around for a parent, guardian, someone who had come with him but I found none.

"Where's your mommy?"

"Don't got one." This took me back a bit, because the last time I had seen him he had been rescued by a woman across the street who claimed to be his mother.

"Well, do you have a daddy?"

"Nu-uh." He shook his head and I could tell he was holding back tears at the memory of his parents. I wasn't going to push him any farther than he needed to go.

"Do you at least have somewhere to go at night?" By his dirty face and raggedy clothes, I suspected this answer would be a no as well. "You know what, don't answer that one."

"Whatever." He rolled his eyes, and I sympathized with him slightly because I had been a street rat without a family until my brother brought me in about fifteen years ago.

"Do you want somewhere to stay?" I leaned forward onto the desk and tried to look as comforting as possible.

He looked slightly astonished at first, but then he went back to scowling and said, "Sure, fine, I guess."

"Well, there's a start." I lifted my voice and gave it an encouraging tone.

He looked up at me again. "Are you gonna teach me or what, lady?!"

"Okay, yeah, sure. Just, try not to be so loud in here. You can let it all out in classes, if you want." I sensed a dark aura beginning to encircle the boy, and saw a small bit of black bleed into the whites of his eyes.

"God, you've gotta be _kidding_ me! One sec lady, I gotta go to the bathroom!" He rushed out of the room, darkness trailing him as he went.

"Um... Okay."


	2. The Lessons Begin

**Once again, I'm still not Tite Kubo!** ^_^

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"So, tell me about his first class." That same voice flooded over me again as the needle was refilled.

"Um, I think it was like this:"

Ten o' clock in the morning is when my classes usually start. Of course, this is the cliche part where it starts late because a certain little carrot-top can't get his pants on right.

"They're too baggy!" He kept insisting, but I just pulled them up and said, "Live with it, you little fool."

Eleven thirty was when my class started that morning. I got plenty of complaints, and I was beginning to contemplate my decision to let the kid stay with me. Of course, being a Kuchiki, I would've had no choice either way. My brother had made the mistake of letting law and reason take over his life and had been miserable for twenty five years on end. Then his wife died, and he vowed to always put family and life first to keep her soul happy. That eventually led to him wearing skinny jeans and a polo shirt everyday with a coffee for breakfast and a hazy morning because he had gotten absolutely wasted the night before.

"Alright students, let's get this rolling. We've already lost too much time as it is, and I want to scrunch as much into this class as I can." I picked up my sword from the corner and went through the beginning pledges as quickly as possible.

The class went smoothly. Wow, that was _such_ a lie.

The kid couldn't even lift his sword, much less _do_ anything with it. I had to come and lift it off of him at least five times because he had fallen over while swinging it around.

He was always causing a scene and started yelling when I tried to help him. I swear I lost at least three students that day.

_But the darkness never left him._

He would always go unusually quiet at the most random of times and he always had a look on his face that suggested that he was fighting a force within himself. I would occasionally see that black bleed into his eyes but the he would squeeze them shut and shake his head and it would be gone.

I couldn't help but feel as though something were preying on him, like it was slowly consuming him. It made me feel like it was eating me, too, squeezing my throat shut and immobilizing me completely.

And sometimes I could feel another presence beside or behind him, and sometimes, if I concentrated enough, I could see him. He looked like grown-up Ichigo, but with white hair and skin and black eyes with yellow irises. Sometimes he would help him hold the sword, sometimes he would laugh hysterically when he fell.

I wasn't quite sure whether or not he was on Ichigo's side, but I knew for sure that he wasn't a good person to have around.

And then it hit me.

Ichigo's eyes were always turning black, and the man's eyes _were_ black. The man looked like grown-up Ichigo, and I had heard of people who became evil spirits when they were older but the spirit went back to torment them as children.

Could this be what that was? It had to be, there was no other explanation.

Except for one.

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***Deep breath* thank god that's over, now I can get some much-needed sleep!**

**Oh yeah, just a side note, if you try to type up a chapter without your reading glasses, you head starts to feel like it's going to explode!**


	3. The First Well, Meeting

**Enjoy the third chapter! ^_^**

**(oneshot)**

**Did you know? My salt is black. It gets rid of the insane ones. It makes them better, and they never talk to me again.**

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"Tell me how he behaved at home." A pad of paper and a calligraphy pen replaced the jar and syringe.

"Oh god, don't even get me _started_ on living with that piss-head."

"But I thought he was just a kid."

"Back then, yes. But now that he's almost twenty three, he goes out and gets himself drunk as a bird in Spring every night and when he doesn't have enough money, he hounds me for it."

"Ah, I see. But let's continue, shall we?"

"Yes, of course."

He was like Hell wrapped up in an adorable little orange-haired bundle of a child. Everywhere he went, he made a mess and he never cleaned up after himself so I ended up doing it for him. Damn, I was one hell of a pansy back then. Anyway, he set three fires, all from lamps that he'd knocked over.

I figured he needed to learn a lesson, so I did what any normal mother would have done.

"Alright, you little idiot. You need to learn how to behave, or we're going to have some serious trouble." I said, gripping him by his hair and rocking him back and forth. "You got that, little snot?"

"Yeah, okay, just please _stop. You're making me feel sick."_

"Oh, I'm sorry." I let him go, hoping I hadn't done any damage to the kid.

"Gotcha!" He flicked me in the nose and went running off with his arms spread out like an airplane. I slowly lumbered my way onto the dark green couch in my white living room littered with windows and shattered glass.

"God, please tell me what to do with this, this _thing_ you've put in my hands." I leaned my head all the way back and put my hands over my face.

"Haha!" He came running by me at full speed and kicked both of my legs so hard I thought I felt something go out. I slid my hands over the now pulsing veins in my face.

Well, at least that dark presence isn't there anymore.

_No, I'm still here._

I immediately shot stock straight in my seat and twisted my head to the left.

_But don't worry your pretty little head over it. I'm not here to hurt the little guy, I swear it._

I turned my head to the right, searching for the voice. That last sentence oozed so much sarcasm, I could feel it like slime in my mind, sliding down the walls of my brain and coating it with its disgusting texture.

_But seriously. Do anything, and I mean _anything_ to get rid of me, and I'll make sure the kid never sees your face again. Or anything else for that matter._

A sinister smile with sharp teeth and yellow eyes seeped into my mind, taking shape from the slime that his gross sarcasm had left.

"What's your name?" I practically demanded.

_Oh, nothing really._

"Tell me." This time I was demanding.

_I told, you it's nothing._

"I swear, tell me or the kid gets a nice salty bath!" I screamed it out loud for the world to hear, and at least the kid did.

_Can't you take a hint? Geez, you're stupider than I thought. I don't fucking have one._

"What?" I dropped my defensive stance, lowered my fists, and my face filled with confusion mixed with compassion because of a man I had once known who didn't have a name either.

_You heard me. I have no name. But I bet you do._

"Rukia Kuchiki, don't wear it out." My stance went back up slightly.

_Ah, a pretty name for a pretty face. It fits. Kuchiki, did you say? I think I know your brother._

"How would you know him? He's a loner by choice. He never gets out, and he never gives the time of day for anyone he doesn't know personally." My stance went all the way up, and my face went back to the resentful scowl it had harbored at first.

_Yeah, from the other world. At least, one of them. He was... captain... of... sixth company? I can't remember. That's what I think I remember, anyway._ _I'll have to ask Renj._

"_Renj?_ Who is this _Renj?"_ I shook my head in confusion. I then saw where, or rather who, the voice was coming from. Ichigo's eyes had gone completely black and his irises had turned a golden yellow. His skin was practically white, and, well, _something_ was forming on his face.

"_Oh, an old friend. He used to be assistant captain to that son of a bitch, I know that much at least. I think he's with that little puppy dog now." _His voice had deepened at least two octaves, and the stuff that was gathering on his face had begun to turn into a mask with small horns like those of a baby bulls growing from his temples. Red streaks decorated his right eye.

An almost transparent chain had begun to form on his chest and a small metal plate on his chest where the chain had started was slowly crumbling away to reveal a dark abyss of loneliness and heartlessness.

"Ichigo?" I put down my stance hesitantly once again and began to cautiously approach him.

"_Is that the idiot's name? Oh well, he's long gone. I have full control over his every word and action for the time being. That is, until he gets up the strength to rip me off of his face. Of course being a small child might hinder his strength. You might never see your little strawberry again, lady."_ An unbecoming smirk had placed itself on his lips and made him look almost a decade older than he already was.

He had begun to grow at a steady rate, muscles developing on his abdomen and arms. His hair grew out slightly and his face gained more definition. He looked like he was fifteen, and the smirk actually fit him. As a matter of fact, I thought it looked natural, as though it had been there forever.

"_Like I told you, lady, he's mine. You wanna see him for real? Gimme a sec."_ His body began glowing a bright blue and the occasional spurt of red or black energy could be seen emanating from where his body was.

Not long after, he reappeared wearing a black kimono with a white sash around his waist and an enormous sword on his back.

"What the fuck?!" Memories came flooding back to me in a painful rain.


	4. What Great Friends

**Back again! You know, I've been waiting for this all day, and I couldn't wait so I ended up writing another story called "What the Hell is Happening to Me!" It's a crossover from Death Note and Code Geass where Light gets Geass. Yeah, check it out if you're into it.**

**Enjoy! ^_^**

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"What exactly were these 'memories?'" He scribbled the last of what I'd said on the pad of paper, though I still couldn't see who he was.

"There were so many, but now I can't seem to forget a single one, like they've been a part of me mt whole life."

"I see. Then perhaps they have been." Another injection.

They were rushing into me, like a waterfall pounding my on the head. They wouldn't stop, until I knew who I was.

_I was different too._

My brother was like me, too. And suddenly that comment about the 'puppy' really got on my nerves. I ran into my room and, just like the memories had told me, I found a pink fingerless glove in my left drawer.

"Yep, that's the one," I said while I put it on and smacked myself in the face. It made me feel cold, like the warmth was being removed from me. I rubbed my eyes and looked around. I _seemed_ the same, if you didn't count the fact that my body was lying on the floor right in front of me. I looked at my legs and arms, and from what I could tell, I was clad like Ichigo. However my sword was hugely smaller and resting at my hip. The red hilt was woven with thread, while his was wrapped in a white cloth. And of course, I wasn't turning into a hollow in the middle of my living room. Wait- That's right! Ichigo needed help!

I rushed out of my room and found Ichigo pulling at the mask on his face and emanating painfully strong waves of spirit energy. I wiped the sweat off my forehead and ran over to him. "Ichigo!"

"Rukia!" He opened his eyes and a pained expression on his face told me he had returned from his little "trip" and was fighting the hollow for control of his body. I grabbed a freed corner of the plastery mask and tugged as hard as I possibly could. I managed to pull it a little ways down his face, but the mask had fused with his skin and had torn a bit of skin from his face. He was bleeding on my carpet. Great, yet another of his messes for my to clean up later.

But I shouldn't be worrying about that now. With my help, Ichigo managed to pry the rest of the mask from his face.

"GOD that guy is annoying. Anyway, I didn't need the help. I've dealt with this before, I could've done it myself." He had wet a towel in my kitchen and was holding it against his face to reduce the bleeding. He hadn't shrunk down to his normal age, and I actually began to think that I could get used to this new face. What was I thinking?! That was ridiculous. He's six. Or is he?

"Fool, you were desperately crying my name out while I was over here saving your idiotic ass." I popped a hip out and rested a fist on it gently.

"Oh, so I'm the idiotic one here. At least I had _some_ recollection of being a soul reaper. Who's the fool now?"

"You."

He put a fist up by his ear as though he was going to punch me, but I knew he never would. He may have been a baka, but at least he had some manners. The ones that worked in my favor, anyway. He let it fall down to and hang limply by his side. "You know, sometimes I come _this close_ to punching you." He held up his fingers about a centimeter apart and his eyebrows returned to that angry place they had been in ever since his mother had died. "Anyway, where are we? Weren't we in Seireitei fighting Aizen just now?"

"That was about five years ago. Now we're at my place, and you were just introducing your little, um," I swirled my index finger in a circle at his head, "friend there."

"Friend my ass. He's a pain. I hate him. He always intrudes right when I'm gonna win the fight and tries to get in on the action."

"Right, like that time when you were fighting Byaki and he was about to kill you to death?"

"Wait, how do you know about that?"

"Mayuri's secret cameras hidden all over the place. We even got a shot of that part where you almost pulled his pants down."

"Wait, what?"

"Yeah. The yaoi fangirls are going crazy over it, and we're selling it for around five hundred dollars and up."

"YOU WHAT?!"

"Yep."

His veins began pulsing wildly. "You wouldn't."

"I would."

He pulled out his sword and slashed an enormous hole in my wall. "Well maybe you can put all that money to good use now."

"We already did, buying more things to put in Rukongai for the new souls! We don't have any more!"

"Well, too bad."

"You crazy baka, I could sue you for this!"

"You haven't got a damn penny."

I crossed my arms in defeat and pulled down my eyelid and stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well, at least you're back."

"Yeah, great time to start being nice!"

"I think I'll just leave now. Good day."

"You're coming to class tomorrow!"

"And what will your students think if I come in and I'm all-of-a-sudden fifteen, huh?"

I didn't know what to say, so I ran into my room, slammed the door, and called Renji.

"Moshi moshi?"

"Yeah, Renji, I need you to come open a portal to the Soul Society. I'm coming home to you guys."

"Sure, when?"

"ASAP."

"Yep." Beep-beep-beep-beep.

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**And the story continues from there on the regular path of Bleach, so yeah! ^_^**

**Review if you enjoyed, and anyone who wants me to write another Bleach fic, I'm holding a contest:**

**These are the rules:**

**-your username**

**-a prompt for the first chapter, and I will continue on a path I choose**

**-no romance or random smut. There are other authors for that.**

**So yeah! If you have any interesting ideas for a Bleach fic, send it my way and I will give you a shoutout in the first chapter and add you to my list of favorite authors!**


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